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ABC NYC: A Book About Seeing New York City

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Presents all the excitement, movement, and diversity of the Big Apple to beginning readers via lively full-color photos, bright illustrations, and city-inspired items, such as "B" for Bagel and "C" for the Chrysler Building.

56 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2005

42 people want to read

About the author

Joanne Dugan

7 books5 followers
Joanne Dugan is an author and photographer and based in New York City.

Her latest hardcover book, "Summertime," curated and edited by Joanne, features the work of 46 emerging and established contemporary photographers and is published by Chronicle Books.

Joanne's photography and writing has been published in six previous books: "ABC NYC: A Book About Seeing New York City," (Abrams Books), "123 NYC: A Counting Book of New York City," (Abrams Books), "Taxi Driver Wisdom," (Chronicle Books), "Beauty Parlor Wisdom," (Chronicle Books), "Mostly True," (fine art private press) and "To Music and Other Short Stories," (RDH, Germany).

Her work has been recognized with national awards from Communication Arts, Photo District News, Graphis, The Art Director’s Club, HOW Magazine and the AIGA, among others.

Joanne is a faculty member of the International Center of Photography in New York City, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA.

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5 stars
31 (41%)
4 stars
20 (27%)
3 stars
17 (22%)
2 stars
5 (6%)
1 star
1 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Adrianna Laskowski.
44 reviews
February 26, 2018
Copyright-2005
Number of Pages-56
Book Format-Hardcover
Reading Level-K-3rd grade
Genre- Children's picture book
Lit Requirement- alphabet book 3

Summary- ABC NYC: A Book About Seeing New York City takes you on an adventure of things you would see in the city based on a letter in the alphabet. Each page has a picture(s) to help enhance understanding of what the sentences are saying. (ex. "C is for Chrysler Building. It sparkles silver on a sunny day." and has a picture of the Chrysler Building on the page next to the letter.)

Response- I liked this book because I am very interested in New York. There may be some students who are interested in, or who are from New York that would probably enjoy this book, too. The sentences are kind of small and hard to find. It is a picture book so the pictures are meant to be big, but it may be hard for younger children to locate the sentences and read about what they are looking at.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jo Oehrlein.
6,361 reviews9 followers
August 16, 2018
An ABC book Sesame Street style, illustrated with photographs.

The letters are found in signs throughout the city. Some of these photos are color and some black and white.

The pictures to illustrate that letter are about things found in NYC. These photos are all black and white.

There's a short sentence about each letter.

Some things (like "M" is for Manhole Cover and "S" is for Subway) will work for most big urban areas. Others (like "C" is for Chrysler Building and "F" is for Flatiron Building) are very very NYC specific.


Profile Image for Amy.
1,022 reviews13 followers
January 29, 2018
Joanne takes children on an alphabetic photographic tour of NYC from A[tlas] to Z[oom] with B is for Bagel and S is for Subway and everything in between. Dugan's author's note with her reasons for writing this book is interesting. She received well meaning ABC books from friends and relatives but those didn't fit the NYC as there were examples that urban children were less likely to see in NYC. Great alphabet book for those who live in cities as well as those going to visit in NYC.
Profile Image for Darlene.
117 reviews2 followers
February 21, 2017
Great ABC book for NY'ers or anyone whose visited nyc. Excellent illustrations. Alphabet is letters from buildings, signs or subway grating. It really reflects ny with a description of where each was photographed.
Profile Image for Bléu.
256 reviews
February 3, 2018
"A is for Atlas. He cannot wave because he is carrying the world on his shoulders"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Another interesting and unique idea of a book. It is safe to say that i got to know new york more by this photographs.
Profile Image for Claudia.
97 reviews
March 10, 2018
Wonderfully colorful book that teaches children the alphabet with visuals that associate with New York City. Only thing I would change is the number of words. Maybe three per letter would be better.
7 reviews
February 20, 2017
B is for Bagel. G is for Grand Central. N is for Newsstand. ABC NYC displays the alphabet through the letters and sights found within the beautiful, busy city of New York. The letters are very vibrant colors and the image of the objects next to it are black and white. ABC NYC displays the different letters found within the city, and beside it, is a picture of that object/letter. A cool thing about this alphabet book is that it tries to help engage the reader more, so they are not only focused on the specific letter. For example, "W is for Water Tower. Count them," is found within the book where the author has used this time to have the reader engage and look for how many water towers are in the image. The different take and engagement found within this ABC book is appealing and sets it apart from other alphabet books. This book is great for early readers all the way up until the teens, even adults. For a simple and relaxing read, go ahead and take a look at this alphabet book of New York City.
Profile Image for Emily.
111 reviews4 followers
January 22, 2008
Excellent. Effervescent letters snagged from various city locations and gorgeous black & white photography offer dual visualization of familiar city sights from A to Z. Lends itself to much kid/reader interaction.
Profile Image for Felisa.
29 reviews3 followers
March 11, 2015
ALPHABET


This is a little bit different than the traditional ABC book in that it has black and white photography of New York City paired with colorful ABC letters. I think this would be a fun book to give to an adult who has been to NYC or who is missing NYC.
54 reviews
October 19, 2009
A BOOK WITH ME IN IT!!! And I'm not kidding

Turn to the page with R on it and thats me!!! YAy!!!!



Profile Image for Beth.
3,078 reviews228 followers
February 2, 2012
I love giving ABC books as projects so it's always nice to have a few published ones on hand as examples. This is a great one to use to get kids to think outside the box.
Profile Image for Michelle Gray.
2,261 reviews12 followers
November 5, 2015
I liked the variety of things the author used for each letter but I wish the photos had been in color. They would have looked like a higher quality photo and been more visually interesting.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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